Friedrich Gustav Jaeger

Friedrich Gustav Jaeger (born September 25, 1895 in Kirchberg an der Jagst ; † August 21, 1944 in Berlin-Plötzensee ) was an officer in the Reichswehr and Wehrmacht (most recently a colonel ) as well as a resistance fighter from July 20, 1944 .

Life

At the beginning of the First World War , Jaeger passed his secondary school diploma and joined the Grenadier Regiment "Queen Olga" (1st Württembergisches) No. 119 in Stuttgart as a flag junior . During the war he was deployed in Flanders , France and on the Isonzo Front, wounding six times and receiving several awards.

On February 23, 1918, he married his wife Marie-Elisabeth Schlee. After the end of the war he studied agriculture in Tettnang , and in 1919 his only son, Krafft Werner Jaeger, was born. In the same year Jaeger became a member of the German Workers 'Party , which in 1920 was renamed the National Socialist German Workers' Party (NSDAP). Although he was a leading member of the Munich Oberland Freikorps , Jaeger refused to participate in the Kapp Putsch in 1920 and resigned from the NSDAP.

In the years that followed, Jaeger became a staunch opponent of National Socialism . In 1934 he tried to be reactivated for the Reichswehr in order to avoid being employed as adjutant to the Reichssportführer Hans von Tschammer und Osten , and in October he was accepted as a captain in the 29th Infantry Regiment. In 1936 he was promoted to major .

In 1938, after the Sudeten crisis , Jaeger took part in the invasion of German troops into the Sudeten German territories of Czechoslovakia , and at the beginning of the Second World War he took part in the attack on Poland . From 1939 Jaeger established contacts with members of the resistance within the Wehrmacht such as Hans Oster , Friedrich Olbricht and Ludwig Beck . In 1940 he took part in the " Campaign in France " and in 1941 in the " Campaign in Russia ".

After the death of his wife on February 17, 1942, Jaeger spoke to his son for the first time about his contacts in the resistance and plans for a coup. During the year he was promoted to colonel and used in the Battle of Stalingrad . There he was wounded and flown to Lublin after suffering from typhus .

1943 agreed Jaeger hesitant to assassination plots on Adolf Hitler to. Out of Christian conviction he was in favor of the judgment of Hitler in a court. According to a complaint, his son was arrested and charged with attempted treason and inciting a comrade into military disobedience. For lack of evidence, Jaeger's son was released, but was ordered to the front to “restore honor”.

On July 20, 1944, Jaeger was the commander of the tank replacement troops in Wehrkreis II (Stettin) in Wehrkreis XXI (Posen) in Kalisch . After the assassination attempt, he received an order from Claus Schenk von Stauffenberg to arrest an SS-Oberführer. He was also supposed to arrest Joseph Goebbels and occupy the radio station in Masurenallee. After it became known that Hitler had survived the assassination attempt, however, the soldiers under Jaeger refused to give the order. Jaeger himself was arrested by the Gestapo on July 20th . His son was also arrested and taken from an Italian hospital to a Gestapo prison in Berlin. On August 21, Friedrich Gustav Jaeger was sentenced to death by the “ People's Court ” for high treason and hanged on the same day in Plötzensee .

Krafft Werner Jaeger was taken to the Sachsenhausen concentration camp in 1945 , but survived.

Awards

Iron Cross (1914) 2nd and 1st class

Wound badge (1918) in gold

Württemberg gold medal for bravery on August 30, 1915

Clasp for the Iron Cross, 2nd and 1st class

Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross on May 26, 1940

Web links

Susanne Eckelmann: Friedrich Gustav Jaeger. Tabular curriculum vitae in the LeMO ( DHM and HdG )

Individual evidence

↑ Veit Scherzer : Knight's Cross bearers 1939-1945. The holders of the Iron Cross of the Army, Air Force, Navy, Waffen-SS, Volkssturm and armed forces allied with Germany according to the documents of the Federal Archives. 2nd Edition. Scherzers Militaer-Verlag, Ranis / Jena 2007, ISBN 978-3-938845-17-2 , p. 146.

personal data
SURNAME	Jaeger, Friedrich Gustav
BRIEF DESCRIPTION	German officer and resistance fighter of July 20, 1944 against National Socialism
DATE OF BIRTH	September 25, 1895
PLACE OF BIRTH	Kirchberg an der Jagst
DATE OF DEATH	August 21, 1944
Place of death	Berlin-Plötzensee

[1] Veit Scherzer : Knight's Cross bearers 1939-1945. The holders of the Iron Cross of the Army, Air Force, Navy, Waffen-SS, Volkssturm and armed forces allied with Germany according to the documents of the Federal Archives. 2nd Edition. Scherzers Militaer-Verlag, Ranis / Jena 2007, ISBN 978-3-938845-17-2 , p. 146.